A Mathematical Awakening – Part 2

Now that I’ve beaten the game, I can now give a full impression of it as a whole (spoiler free hopefully).

Adventure Time is possibly the perfect first platform leveling “swiss army” adventure game for the uninitiated, but only for someone who’s a fan of the series. Not that someone totally unfamiliar with it won’t glean enjoyment, but folks like Fred and Jon simply might not “get” who all these characters are or why they’re around, because the game assumes the player knows. It assumes the player just wants to run around in that world, which is cool if you ARE a fan, but someone just picking up the game might miss all the inside jokes and the charm of the game would be lost. A perfect example is the title of this article, which Jon wanted to change. (editor’s note: An in joke as an article title is off putting for the uninitiated. It is also just bad practice to not describe your article with the title. That being said, screw it. We aren’t the Times.)

I like the show and I know that there are legions of die hard fans (NYCC had more “AT” cosplayers than anything else by far), so for them, this game will not disappoint. For someone looking to wet their whistle with a game in this genre that doesn’t know the show, not so much.

Now, being the former, I liked this game, but I was hoping for a bit more difficulty, or just some more technical cleverness. The final level of the game is the only real challenge where you have to use all the abilities gained, but I never could escape the feeling of linearity to completely enjoy my play-through Another aspect that should have been tweaked was the voice acting, or lack thereof. I’m currently playing an Atlus 3DS beat-em-up where EVERY BIT OF DIALOGUE IS VOICE ACTED! Not only is every line of dialogue professionally read, there is a lot of it. I really feel Adventure Time could have used the same treatment. It would have made all the great jokes and interactions much more fun, and also help immerse younger gamers into the world better by blurring the line between game and show.

I really like this game, and my 11-year-old self loves it. It’s a great tutorial for this genre and I recommend it to anyone who wants a light hearted adventure game AND is a fan of the series. I won’t spoil the ending but the final battle and end credits are worth the ride! I definitely get the vibe that there will be an entire series of games, hopefully deepening both gameplay and story.

If you’re looking for a similar game, one of my favorites of the genre (that you may not have known existed) is Samurai Jack: Amulet of Time, for the GBA. Oddly enough, it’s also a Cartoon Network series, but it’s a deeper, slightly more grown-up game that faithfully recreates the Emmy award winning show. A new copy runs about $15, but you can find it used for around a buck. Please play it, it’s dope.

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We get our as seen on TV product placement on with week as Jon enjoys a delicious bowl of Veggetti. Just think about that for a bit. I’ll wait.

We also manage to squeeze in some conversation about Nintendo going mobile, our apathy for Bloodborne, the writing of Tales from the Borderlands, and all the feels we get from Hotline Miami 2. But mostly Vaggetti.